Constitutional development in HK's interest: official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 24, 2003

Constitutional development in HK's interest: official

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The Hong Kong government will work closely and build consensus with different sectors and political parties while dealing with constitutional development after 2007, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam said Tuesday.

Speaking at a Hong Kong Australia Business Association and Australia China Business Council luncheon today, Stephen Lam said that according to the Basic Law, effecting constitutional changes will require the support of two-thirds of legislators.

"This will mean that any changes need to have the support of a combination of both the directly elected members and functional constituency members," he added.

"This will be a challenge, not just to the government, but also to all members of the Legislative Council (LegCo)," he said, adding that constitutional development beyond 2007 will definitely be in the interest of Hong Kong.

He said the Constitutional Affairs Bureau planned to commence a wide public consultation exercise on the matter in 2004 and to deal with local legislation in 2006.

The review will be proper and thorough, and there will be adequate opportunity for the public to take part in consultations, he said.

By 2004, half of the 60 seats in the LegCo will be returned through direct election. Compared with the composition of the LegCo in 1997, this represented a 50 percent increase in the number of directly elected seats.

Lam said Hong Kong is an open and transparent city. The legislature, the media and the public are fully capable of monitoring the performance of the government and holding individuals responsible for their respective policies.

In light of people's doubts and concerns about the provisions of the proposed legislation, Lam said the Hong Kong government had decided to withdraw the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill from the legislative program, to allow sufficient time for the matter to be reconsidered and dealt with over a longer time-span.

He stressed that this case illustrated that under the Basic Law, the executive government can only take forward legislative or budgetary proposals with the support and consent of the legislature.

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